The Duchess of Cornwall launched a partnership with Fortnum & Mason to sell honey produced by bees that live in her private garden in Wiltshire earlier this month, and the venture was, according to the luxury department store, a huge success. A limited batch of just 250 jars went on sale in the flagship store in Piccadilly, St Pancras International and Heathrow Terminal 5 with a price tag of £20 each, and they sold old in just over two weeks.All proceeds from The Duchess of Cornwall Honey will be donated to the Medical Detection Dogs charity, of which the Duchess is patron.
If you didn't manage to get your hands on what Fortnum's hope may become a collector's item, you might have the opportunity next year. The store have to await the next harvest to decide whether to stock the product again.
Fortnum's is well known for its home-made honey and commitment to the conservation of bees, so a royal addition of the sweet syrup made from, as they say, "delicately perfumed nectar with subtle hints of chamomile", was perfect.
The reputed brand has working beehives on the roof of the Piccadilly store, as well as sites in Hoxton and Bermondsey, London.
The Highgrove farm shop in Tetbury, Glos., sells runny honey for £5.50, described as "a mixed floral type produced from hives sited on Duchy Home Farm where the bees forage on clover, wild berries, dandelion and orchard fruits".More than 700 items either sourced from Home Farm on the Prince's estate or selected by Charles personally are also sold at the shop, which was opened in 2008.
Camilla and her husband Prince Charles are no strangers to producing honey - the Prince of Wales has been selling Highgrove Honey made on his Duchy Home Farm for quite some time.
